Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the William Alexander Gerhardie Papers #11044-z, Rare Book Literary and Historical Papers, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Transferred from the Rare Book Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in December 1994 (Acc. 94173).

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• Authors, English--History--20th century.
• Gerhardie, William Alexander, 1895-1977.

William Alexander Gerhardie was born of English parents in St. Petersburg, Russia, and educated there and at Oxford. He served in World War I, became military attache to the British Embassy at Petrograd, and went with the British Military Mission to Siberia, 1918-1920. His novels include Futility: a Novel on Russian Themes (1922); The Polyglots (1925); and Resurrection (1934), an autobiographical novel that argues for the immortality fo the soul. His critical writings include Anton Chekhov (1923); Memoirs of a Polyglot (1931); and The Romanoffs (1940), substantially a history of Russia.

The collection consists of letters, 1924-1972, chiefly from William Alexander Gerhardie to others. Letters in the 1920s include complaints relating to Gerhardie's finances, but also discuss his writing plans. Letters 1967-1972 are from Gerhardie to his friends Karin and Giacomo and mainly discuss Gerhardie's health and progress on planning and writing a tetralogy that he appears not to have completed.